Costa Concordia, the parbuckling operation has been completed

4.00 A.M.: The parbuckling operation has been successfully completed. The wreck is now upright and resting safely on the specially built artificial sea bed, at a depth of approximately 30 meters.

2.00 A.M: The vessel has rotated 35 degrees. Everything is going on according to plans. Next update at 4 a.m.

0.00 A.M.: The ship has rotated approximately 25° with respect to the starting position. This means that the operation has gone beyond the point at which the vessel no longer needs to be pulled by the strand jacks and can now rotate under its own momentum and under the weight of the ballast water contained in the sponsons.

7.00 P.M.:The Titan Micoperi consortium announced that strandjack operations were temporarily suspended for an hour for maintenance work. It was in fact necessary to intervene with a dedicated team to avoid slack cables from interfering with the tensioned cables. The ‘Fast Response’ team is comprised of 8 people ready to intervene for checking purposes or in the event of anomalies. As foreseen by the operating and site procedures, access onboard was via a specifically positioned ladder, and safety checks were carried out. The team who intervened are all qualified to work on the wreck, are equipped with climbing gear and protective devices as necessary. Parbuckling operations have now resumed.

4.20 P.M. The wreck side has been successfully dislodged from the reef by applying a maximum load of 6,000 tons (in line with forecast), thanks to the force exerted by the strand jacks operating the system of winches and steel chains. The wreck has now rotated 10 degrees and will need to rotate at least as many before it has completed the first 20 degrees with reference to the initial position which is the approximate point at which the intake valves of the 11 sponsons attached to the port side of the hull reach sea level.

In the meantime the whole parbuckling system is being monitored constantly, with continuous checks – for example – of the condition of the strand jacks and chains, etc.

12.15 P.M.: the Titan Micoperi Consortium announced that there is evidence of a smooth rotation movement of the hull. A pulling force of about 6,000 tons has been applied with a consequent rotation of about three degrees. From now on, technicians expect that the rotation can proceed with a gradually decreasing pulling force.

9.00 A.M.: the Titan Micoperi Consortium announced that Parbuckling operations had commenced. Capt Nick Sloane, the Senior Salvage Master, gave the order to activate the commands that will be sent from the Control Room on the barge “Polluce” in the immediate vicinity of the bow of the Concordia.

All commands and signals – e.g. activation of strand jacks, opening and closing of sponson valves, information about the position of the wreck – will be sent to and from the barge control room via two separate “umbilicals” (one used as a back-up for the other); these are cables arranged between the control room and the ship guaranteeing communication between the two.

The team operating in the Barge Control Room includes 11 experts: a dedicated Ballast Engineer, ROV pilots, engineers who are strandjack specialists, a computer engineer and a design engineer.

The team members in the control room will operate all the systems and monitor progress using 8 monitors. Five TV cameras with five microphones have been placed on the highest deck of the Concordia; the images and sounds monitored during the parbuckling will allow the engineers to make adjustments depending on any twist and torsion arising on the ship.

Duplication of the monitors has been provided in the “Salvage Room” ashore, where all the other engineers and technicians will follow the operation and be able to provide assistance if and when the need arises

7.45 A.M.: The salvage Master Nick Sloane and the technicians of the operations team are embarking to reach the control room. In the meantime the operations for the positioning of the operating units are still ongoing. The connections with the control room have been activated and systems testing is proceeding.

Once this operation is completed, the parbuckling can begin.

There are no technical problems

6.22 A.M.: The starting of parbuckling operations initially planned at 6.15 has been rescheduled for about two hours (tbc) due to the strong thunder storms last night on the island. The storms had in fact prevented the positioning of the barge on which the control room is installed and other operative units.